Explanation of Resource This Behind the News excerpt effectively illustrates to students the specific features that are involved in a documentary. ‘Mummies’ is a short documentary (approximately four minutes in length) that operates to expand on students’ prior knowledge and address misconceptions they may have about ancient mummies in Egypt. During the introduction this clip poses numerous questions to engage students, including, “Are the mummies in Egypt the only mummies in the world? And how old are they?” This excerpt includes an interview by an expert archaeologist, as well as segments by the main narrator and news presenter. The content covered in this ‘Mummies’ is clearly related to the Ancient Egypt unit, however it approaches the area from a slightly different perspective, focusing on mummies found in South America as oppose to Egypt (Africa). This is a resource that students are likely to find inspiring, thought provoking and intrinsically motivating. Healy (2004) suggest that multiliteracy resources such as this are designed in ways that inter-relate the ‘linguistic’, ‘visual’, ‘audio’, ‘spatial’ and ‘gestural’, with the purpose of making students critically aware of purpose and audience.The combination of the amazing visuals, effective presentation of factual information and quirky facts make for a highly educational resource. Relevance to outcome Outcome: CUS2.4: Describes different viewpoints, ways of living, languages and belief systems in a variety of communities. The H.S.I.E outcome addressed throughout this unit is both complemented and addressed through a series of ten lesson plans and five various resources. This particular resource explores history, specifically ancient civilisations, in an engaging and appealing way.This unit approaches history with a strong influence of literacy, as explored in the work of Taylor and Young. The content of Ancient Egypt is discovered through Historical inquiry, historical reasoning, history as critical thinking and historical concept and ideas (2003). As an educational resource this BTN clip is valuable in giving students a broad understating of some of the content area covered in the unit as well as addressing issues of current-day relevance and recent contributions that have been made in this field. The ‘Mummies’ clip describes Egyptian culture and way of life in a thorough and systematic way, igniting students interest in the unit. Aspect of literacy explored This resource is used to accompany an explicit teaching activity in the unit (lesson 5). It is employed to demonstrate the specific features that should be incorporated into a documentary style film. The particular aspect of literacy explored is that of the oral/spoken area, the film becomes a case-study in addressing technical/formal language versus colloquial/everyday language. As highlightedin the work of Harris, Turbill, Fitzsimmons & McKenzie, texts that draw on and combine written, oral, visual, audio, spatial and gestural design features are the tools of trade of balanced literacy classrooms (2006). They are fundamentally what students are immersed in and are highly effective in expressing how language is used and structured. The ‘Mummies’ video clip illustrates to students how they strive in achieving connecting to their targeted audience in their own documentaries. Reference List Harris, P. Turbill, J. Fitzsimmons, P. & McKenzie, B. (2006). Reading in the Primary School Years. Katoomba: Social Science Press. pp.231-244. Healy, A. (2004). The critical heart of multiliteracies: four resources, multimodal texts and classroom practice In Text next: new resources for literacy learning (pp. 19-35). Newtown, N.S.W: PETA.
VIDEO CLIP/TV EXCERPT: ‘MUMMIES’
Reported by Catherine Ellis for ABC program Behind the News (24/3/09) found at: http://www.abc.net.au/btn/v4/story/s2523689.htm
Explanation of Resource
This Behind the News excerpt effectively illustrates to students the specific features that are involved in a documentary. ‘Mummies’ is a short documentary (approximately four minutes in length) that operates to expand on students’ prior knowledge and address misconceptions they may have about ancient mummies in Egypt. During the introduction this clip poses numerous questions to engage students, including, “Are the mummies in Egypt the only mummies in the world? And how old are they?” This excerpt includes an interview by an expert archaeologist, as well as segments by the main narrator and news presenter. The content covered in this ‘Mummies’ is clearly related to the Ancient Egypt unit, however it approaches the area from a slightly different perspective, focusing on mummies found in South America as oppose to Egypt (Africa). This is a resource that students are likely to find inspiring, thought provoking and intrinsically motivating. Healy (2004) suggest that multiliteracy resources such as this are designed in ways that inter-relate the ‘linguistic’, ‘visual’, ‘audio’, ‘spatial’ and ‘gestural’, with the purpose of making students critically aware of purpose and audience.The combination of the amazing visuals, effective presentation of factual information and quirky facts make for a highly educational resource.
Relevance to outcome
Outcome: CUS2.4: Describes different viewpoints, ways of living, languages and belief systems in a variety of communities.
The H.S.I.E outcome addressed throughout this unit is both complemented and addressed through a series of ten lesson plans and five various resources. This particular resource explores history, specifically ancient civilisations, in an engaging and appealing way. This unit approaches history with a strong influence of literacy, as explored in the work of Taylor and Young. The content of Ancient Egypt is discovered through Historical inquiry, historical reasoning, history as critical thinking and historical concept and ideas (2003). As an educational resource this BTN clip is valuable in giving students a broad understating of some of the content area covered in the unit as well as addressing issues of current-day relevance and recent contributions that have been made in this field. The ‘Mummies’ clip describes Egyptian culture and way of life in a thorough and systematic way, igniting students interest in the unit.
Aspect of literacy explored
This resource is used to accompany an explicit teaching activity in the unit (lesson 5). It is employed to demonstrate the specific features that should be incorporated into a documentary style film. The particular aspect of literacy explored is that of the oral/spoken area, the film becomes a case-study in addressing technical/formal language versus colloquial/everyday language. As highlightedin the work of Harris, Turbill, Fitzsimmons & McKenzie, texts that draw on and combine written, oral, visual, audio, spatial and gestural design features are the tools of trade of balanced literacy classrooms (2006). They are fundamentally what students are immersed in and are highly effective in expressing how language is used and structured. The ‘Mummies’ video clip illustrates to students how they strive in achieving connecting to their targeted audience in their own documentaries.
Reference List
Harris, P. Turbill, J. Fitzsimmons, P. & McKenzie, B. (2006). Reading in the Primary School Years. Katoomba: Social Science Press. pp.231-244.
Healy, A. (2004). The critical heart of multiliteracies: four resources, multimodal texts and classroom practice In Text next: new resources for literacy learning (pp. 19-35). Newtown, N.S.W: PETA.